Private Day Tour: Herodion, Mar Saba Monastery and Bethlehem

Highlights

Inclusions

Itinerary

1. Meet your private guide-driver at Bethlehem 300 Checkpoint and depart to the Old City of Bethlehem. Walk the narrow streets of the old city and enjoy the old architects of the buildings from the Ottoman period. Stop by Bethlehem Icon Center, which used to be a local house and today it’s a center teaching Byzantine Iconography. Walk the Star Street— the way that Joseph and Mary took when they came to Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus. Walk onward through the old city and stop the main old entrance of the city then to Hosh Al Syrian quarter, see the building from inside and stop for a cup of tea or Arabic coffee. Visit an old Olive Press museum and learn about olive harvest and olive oil production, the building which houses the museum dates back as far as the 19th century. It houses many ethnographic and archaeological artifacts featuring the entire process of oil production. Furthermore, the exhibit also shows the many uses for oil such as lamps, medicine, food, soap, and even cosmetics.

   2 h

2. Continue to Manger Square and visit the Nativity Church, the birthplace of Jesus and the oldest church in the world.

   1 h

3. You will have a nice lunch break at Afteem Restaurant for Falafel, Hummus and typical Salad lunch. (own expense).

   40 min

4. Drive to the Shepherd’s Field where the angel Gabriel appeared to the shepherds, see the ruins that go back to the Byzantine time and the current church.

   30 min

5. Drive to Mar Saba Monastery in the Judean Desert, one of the oldest monasteries in the Holy Land. Men can visit the monastery while women are not allowed inside but still, they can enjoy the view from outside and the guide's explanations.

   1 h

6. Take a short drive to Herodion National Park, the palace of Herod the Great from the roman period 1st century BC. From the top of the mountain, enjoy a panorama view of the landscape of the area and from there you can see Jordan mountains and the Dead Sea.

   1 h

7. Visit Banksy Graffiti arts in Bethlehem, The Walled Off Hotel of Banksy and the separation wall.

   30 min

Cancellation

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.

Reviews

Ratings come from 1 reviews collected by our booking partner. They are travellers' own words, in the order they were written — never reordered to flatter the experience.

Know before you go

How it compares in Bethlehem

• Its from-price is 33% above the median of the 32 day trips we list in Bethlehem.
• Its length is typical for the group.
• By number of reviews it ranks 29 of 32.
• The operator lists free cancellation on it.

About Bethlehem

Bethlehem is an ancient town on the Judean hills, just south of Jerusalem, home to the Church of the Nativity, its stone streets and Manger Square.

Bethlehem stands on a ridge of the Judean hills in the West Bank, a few kilometres south of Jerusalem. Its Church of the Nativity, a World Heritage site, was first built in the fourth century over the grotto traditionally held to be the birthplace of Jesus, and rebuilt in the sixth. Visitors enter through the low Door of Humility into a basilica of tall red-stone columns, and a silver star marks the spot in the grotto below.

Top-ranked sights in Bethlehem: Milk Grotto.

See all 45 experiences in Bethlehem